Resisting the Nazis

I agreed absolutely with John Cornwell's comments on the relationship between science and conscience, and his view that the widely accepted apolitical nature of science made it easier for the Nazi regime to make use of thousands of scientists (27 September, p 25).

He is right to point out how hard it was to resist, but some in the wider scientific community did. Individual scientists risked their careers and worse, by attempting to protect Jewish colleagues who were being hounded out of their positions.

Within the medical community, there was organised resistance from the Association of Socialist Physicians. In the late 1930s they agitated against the regime, and published a journal which attempted to refute the Nazis' medicalised propaganda. Readers can find out more in Robert Proctor's excellent book Racial Hygiene: Medicine under the Nazis (Harvard, 1988).

I appreciate the difficulties of summarising a complex situation in a short ...

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